CONFUCIUS, kon-Walff-fis (Latinized form of Chinese Thing-P-tze, the Master Kung) (c.551-478 n.c.). The most famous of all the sages of China. He was born in the State of Lu in the province which is now called Shantung. His lineage is traced by native tradition to Hang Ti, one of the early mythical rulers of China, al though Confucius himself was the son of a soldier. Shuh-Liang Treh, who was in cony nand of the District of Chow. When a very old man. Itch wedded Chang Tsai in 552. and about a year later had as a son the future sage. When Confucius was but three years old, he lost his father, but the boy was most carefully educated by his mother, and trained according to the highest ideals of China. At an early age he gave evidence of his exceptional abilities and his regard for an cient custom; while his thirst for learning was insatiable. When only seventeen years old he was manager for a wealthy landowner of Lu, and two years later he married. As in the case of other great teachers. however, notably Buddha, and later, Rama Krishna of India, Confucius seems to have been little adapted for family life. He had one son, who was born in 531, and, it would seem, two daughters. After four years he parted from his wife, but doubtless with unbroken friendship on both sides. The real life work of Confucius began when he was twenty-two, and from that time till his death, a period of fifty one years, he led the life of a teacher, migrating frequently from place to place. His conduct on the death of his mother, which occurred in 527, is significant as showing the bent, of his mind. With a filial devotion very rare at that epoch, he erected a large mound over her as she lay in the same grave with his father, and for twenty-seven months remained in entire seclusion. This time was probably not wasted. Doubtless his medita tions during this period of mourning had con siderable influence on his subsequent teachings. The effect of his rigorous observance of the ancient ceremonial custom of mourning for parents had an effect on all who knew him, and heightened their respect for his words. By the
time Confucius had reached the age of thirty, he had formulated to his own satisfaction the tenets of his philosophy. In 517 he gained his first pupils of importance, and lie was enabled ti visit Lo-yang, the capital of the district, where he had an interview with Lao Tsz', the founder of Taoism. On his return to Lu in the following year, he found the city in a state of anarchy, and on the expulsion of the governor, who was his friend, Confucius retired with the ex-official to the neighboring State of Tsi. Here, however, he could not find a congenial home, and he re turned to Lu, where he remained for the next fifteen years, carefully keeping himself aloof from all factional strife, and never slackening his devotion to his mission, At last his moral worth received its reward, and at the age of fifty-two Confucius was appointed Governor of Chung-tu, and this honor was followed by others higher still. Through the machinations of the Governor of Tsi, however, the influence of Con fucius in Lit was so weakened that he left the eountly after four years. For thirteen years lie wandered from place to place, and did not return to Lu until 485, seven years before his death. These last years were spent in well earned retirement; but they were full of sorrow, marked by the deaths of his son and his two best loved disciples, Yen Hui and Tsz' Lu. In 473 the teacher himself died, saddened by the fear lest he had failed to accomplish his mission. Herein lie was wrong. The news of his death spread throughout the land, and called attention anew to his purity of life and teaching, so that the name of Confucius has ever since been the highest and most honored in the land to which he gave his life-long devotion. By the irony of fate lie was deified after his death, and, like Buddha, Confucius, who had little belief in the super natural, became a divinity.